We have our work cut out for us in the coming years. The threats to critical affordable and supportive housing programs that serve the poorest households and those with disabilities are real and significant. Become involved in planning the 2018 Congressional Reception!

NJCounts 2019

All twenty-one New Jersey Counties will be counting individuals and families who were homeless – both sheltered and un-sheltered - on the night of Tuesday January 22, 2019.This annual census is conducted by networks of organizations, agencies and others that plan community efforts to end homelessness and is coordinated by Monarch Housing on the statewide level.

The goal of the second Annual Homeless Sabbath is to engage as many congregations of all faiths to include readings in their service(s) held on December 15th, 16th and 17th, 2017, at their respective house of worship. Click here to register online to participate.

Mazzara references the new Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies (JCHS) new report which finds that almost a third of new jobs that will be created within the next ten years will be low-wage jobs. Households earning low-wages struggle with earnings that don’t match high rents.

“Renter income is already failing to keep up with rising housing costs, Census data show. Even as incomes have grown and poverty has fallen over the last two years – signs of unprecedented progress over a two-year period – most renters’ inflation-adjusted incomes haven’t recovered from the 2001 recession.

The gap between median renter income and median rent shrank between 2015 and 2016, largely thanks to strong income growth. However, housing costs, including rent and utilities, have risen sharply in recent years and continued growing in 2016. Since 2001, the rise in median rent has outpaced the change in median renter income by 12 percentage points.”

The Republican tax bill poses threats to the ability to create affordable housing to meet the growing needs of low-income households.

“Federal rental assistance is among the programs at risk of deep cuts. Such assistance is critical to low-income renters, but 3 out of 4 needy renters don’t receive it due to limited funding. And as we wrote recently, the President and Congress must significantly increase funding for Housing Choice Vouchers in 2018 to prevent cuts in the number of families assisted. Policymakers should protect existing aid and expand targeted assistance for homeless veterans, families with children that are involved with child welfare agencies, and other groups.”